Waiting for the tide
It was still dark when the crew arrived at Sunhera Beach. They had police on the route — a necessary precaution for the early-morning coastal drive on the outskirts of Karachi — but somewhere along the way, the bikes disappeared into the darkness. The crew kept moving. They had no alternative.
What Syed Asad Raza Abidi didn’t know yet, standing on that dark beach with his student crew, was that the water wouldn’t cooperate. He had researched the location obsessively — multiple visits, conversations with local fishermen, careful study of the tidal patterns. The water was supposed to reach the boats by 7 AM. By 9:30, the boats were still on dry sand.
“We were all worried. But I had done my preparation. I knew the location. So when the situation changed, we could adapt instead of collapse.”
The water eventually came. They shot the scene. The whole of Janjaal was filmed in 34 hours.
A student film with a cinema deadline
Abidi was in his sixth semester at Indus University Karachi’s Film & TV programme when he developed Janjaal. The screenplay was written by Ameer Hamza with Basil Hussain Zaidi, produced by Faizan Ahmed, and shot by cinematographer Ghayas Uddin Siddiqui on a Sony FX3 in 2.35:1. Every member of the core crew was a student.
Landing Shamoon Abbasi — a well-known face in Pakistani cinema — came down to an existing connection and a script that spoke for itself. “He read it and said yes. He’s a straightforward person. He responds to the work.”
Post-production, all in-house
Post was the most demanding phase, completed under a fixed university deadline because cinema screens had already been booked for the premiere. Asad edited, colour graded, handled the VFX and mixed the film in 5.1 surround himself — a technical scope rarely managed by one person on a student production. Janjaal premiered at Arena Cinemas, Karachi on 5 January 2025, then went on to 14 international awards across 9 countries.
“There are very talented filmmakers here making stunning work. And then they disappear… We need a new wave of Pakistani cinema. And we have to work together to build it.”